The world celebrates St. Patrick’s Day today, as millions of Irish celebrate their national heritage.

One of the most enduring myths in Ireland is of the leprechaun finding the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

In Washington and in State Capitols around the country, policy makers are vainly searching for rainbows in hopes that they might find that pot of gold to help them balance their budgets.

Inspired by the Tea Party, Republicans believe that they have found the perfect way to balance budgets, which is to dramatically cut spending.

In Congress, House Republicans started with discretionary spending, which only holds a relatively small pot of gold, but they have promised to go after entitlements spending, where the real money is.

They believe that the voters sent them to Washington to accomplish this mission, and in many cases, they are right.

But before they cut too deeply, the GOP might want to look at the experience of the Irish.

They just recently held an election there, where the party in power, Fianna Fail, dramatically slashed spending in response to a fiscal crisis that brought about a budget crisis for the Irish government.  Read more...